


Bits of Shiny

by BakerStTardis (Sokashi)



Series: Hobbit Advent [17]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 23:42:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sokashi/pseuds/BakerStTardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hobbit Advent Day Seventeen. Prompt decorations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bits of Shiny

Fili was born in the hardest years. When the dwarves were scattered and mens' memories of the dragon were fresh. Dwarves were welcomed with reluctance during planting and harvest, during festivals when their mastersmithing could be bought cheap in an effort to earn anything to survive. Come winter they were all but driven from town to huddle in the hills together mining where they could and making plans for the coming year.

Thorin stared at his nephew for a long time. Fili's birth had been the first good news since Erebor, tiny and strong with a head full of his father's blonde hair and eyes Dis had laughed about and called Thorin's. He was a good babe, quiet. Serious. He didn't smile much, but didn't cry either. Even now, with Thorin staring at him, Fili just stared back, unperturbed. Mildly curious. He didn't suck his thumb nor kick and fuss although he fisted his hands a lot at his sides. 

"Look at him, missing his tools already." Frerin chuckled and stuck one large finger into a tiny hand. Fili latched on tight, making the dwarf laugh. "What do you think he'll be? Miner? Silversmith? Jeweler?"

"A warrior." Thorin said, his voice low.

Frerin nodded. "Like his mother then." Both brothers snorted and glanced around to make sure Dis didn't hear. She didn't appear to smack them and they both breathed out.

"He doesn't smile much." Thorin pointed out. It felt like a foolish worry, but one that nagged him.

Frerin shrugged. "He's a Durin."

It was hard to argue with that. Thorin frowned. Fili frowned back, brow furrowing. Thorin quickly schooled his expression before he made things worse. "He doesn't laugh, either."

"So he takes after you." Frerin said and tugged his hand free. Those serious eyes moved from Thorin to him and a fist waved in protest. "See? Already cursing me. Definitely takes after you." He laughed and Fili stared at the sound, a little disapproving. "Maybe you shouldn't be around him until he grows a sense of humor." Frerin added thoughtfully.

Thorin smacked his brother, the action making his dark braids swing when Frerin tried to dodge it. They both froze when Fili made a noise. "Did he just giggle?"

"You are not hitting me to get a giggle out of our nephew." Frerin protested but Thorin shook his head. Before he could speak Fili giggled again, a little louder this time, fists waving and fingers grasping in the air. "Your beads." Frerin said. "They're catching the firelight." Thorin wore simple silver beads in his hair now, his better ones sold off months ago for his people. Frerin didn't wear beads while Dis and her husband tended to wear ones in the back of their hair, not the front. At least they had since Fili was born. One small fist snatched and Thorin remembered why when he found his braid yanked down, bead dangling close to Fili's face while he laughed. Frerin joined in and made no move to help. "See there? He laughs. Maybe silversmith wasn't too far off the mark."

Thorin gritted his teeth as he tried to untangle wildly grasping baby fingers from hair and braids. "Or maybe he just takes after you and is an expert at being a pain in my a-"

"Thorin, what are you doing?" Dis interrupted as she came into the room.

"He's making Fili laugh." Frerin said stepping out if the way.

Dis raised a brow at both of them and leaned over to pick Fili up. He immediately let go of the braids, but he quit laughing too and Thorin gave him a concerned look even as Dis gave them a disapproving one. "Don't you two have something better to do than tease my boy?"

Frerin and Dis fell into easy, fond bickering, but Thorin didn't join in. Just watched his nephew stare with his serious eyes and wondered what he could do.

 

Yule came. It couldn't be celebrated in true dwarvish fashion but they made great efforts. They had winter games and a couple of feasts. Thorin and Dis and Frerin made an effort to be out with their people as much as possible while Thrain kept Thror out of sight as much as possible. Their people didn't need to see their king going mad. What they needed was to see healthy, hard working Heirs and the newborn line of Durin. Fili blinked up at dwarves and occasionally smiled but it was missed by no one that if you wanted to make him truly smile or laugh it was with something shiny. A bead or jewel, a bit of sun reflected off glass.

And that was how, on the day of Yule when Thorin expected to wake to sadness, missing traditional decorations and great, finely crafted gifts, he instead woke to the sound of Fili's laughter. It carried through their little house, louder and lighter than ever before. Curious, Thorin dressed and stepped into the doorway of the main room before he stopped. Their house was decorated with bits of shiny things. Tiny jewels, flawed but colorful. Bits of metal left over from forges that had been smoothed and polished to a shine. Globs of gold, twists of silver. Dented rings and strings of old beads. They hung from the furniture, just out of a child's reach, were strung from wall to wall and up to the rafters. Fili, laughing and crawling faster than Thorin had ever seen him move, was on the floor beneath it all staring up with wide wondering eyes.

"What is this?" Thorin asked Dis from the doorway. She stood nearby grinning, her eyes never leaving her son.

"A gift." She said, her voice a little tight. "From our people. They know it makes him laugh so they collected anything they could and made them. Dwalin and Balin snuck in last night to hang them." She sucked in a breath as Fili rolled in the floor, laughing and batting at a low hung bit of metal that was too big to swallow and too light to hurt him. "He's so happy." 

Thorin smiled a little and hugged her, everyone silent as they watched baby Fili laugh on Yuleday. They may not be the decorations they were used to for the holiday, but, made with the love of their people and giving such joy to their future, Thorin couldn't find fault with them at all.


End file.
